That Light May Not Be Consumed
by Mabus101
Summary: The Dark One can only win if he breaks us. Or so Rand al'Thor says. But when the Dragon Reborn falls to the Borderlanders just days before the Last Battle begins, what can possibly save the world now? A short piece in a few parts.
1. Chapter 1

It was all Demandred could do not to launch himself at Moridin. Knowing that he was Nae'blis, knowing that the Great Lord's fist would descend...still it was all Demandred could do. "You promised me!" he bellowed. "You promised me Al'Thor was mine!"

Moridin shrugged. "I promised not to let the other Chosen kill him. I could hardly extract an oath from the Borderland monarchs."

_ "What does it matter?" Rand gritted his teeth. "I am the Dragon Reborn. Either you will come at my call to Tarmon Gai'don, or the world will die."_

_ "It matters more than you know, Rand al'Thor. I will ask once more. How did Tellindal Tirraso die?" The aging king eased his sword in its scabbard..._

_ ...and Rand struck. Balefire leapt from his hands, reducing King Nachiman to motes of light. A ball of fire burned Tenobia, shrieking, into ash._

_ Then three arrows erupted from his chest, and the Dragon Reborn fell._

_ He was dead before he hit the ground._

"You will be at Tarmon Gai'don," Moridin ordered.

Demandred's face contorted...and relaxed. "Yes," he said at last. "Yes, I will."

* * *

The Last Battle could not be going more poorly. The Borderland armies, such as they were, were in disarray. The southerners, for the most part, seemed in a daze. The Aiel, the Ogier, and the Whitecloaks fought grimly on, but there were too few of all three.

For her part, Egwene felt as if she had taken one too many blows to the head. The Dragon Reborn, dead before the Last Battle could be fought. Many from every army had deserted to hide with their families until the end. "The Light has abandoned us," one of the Tower Guard had said to her. "Why should we not return the favor?" Perhaps they were right. Perhaps there was no hope. Egwene's Aiel heart demanded that she lead her forces to fight on, but she did so almost mechanically, leaving the decisions to Gareth Bryne.

Romanda looked at her suddenly. "Mother, what is-?"

Something split the air on the other side of Egwene's war camp, opposite the battlefield. A line of light, longer than any Gateway Egwene had seen. It was nearly as wide as _her camp itself._

Yet Egwene could see only the heat haze that told her the Gateway was facing away from her. The haze shimmered, and an army boiled out of the other side, weapons held high in defense. A second, smaller Gateway appeared. This one faced her for a brief moment as a single dark-skinned woman emerged.

"He comes," the woman said. "Your savior comes." A tall man stepped through the Gateway behind her, a man with dark hair and a nose like a hawk's beak.

Egwene faced the man defiantly. Light, there was nothing left but defiance, now, was there? But he observed her calmly. "You are not the Dragon Reborn," she said softly. "But if you are here to give aid, I welcome you. For whatever your help may be worth, I offer the thanks of the White Tower."

The man's mouth wrinkled. "No, I am not him. You knew me once as Demandred." He must have seen her shudder. "Know me now as Bao, the Wyld. He Who is Owned Only By the Land. Your last hope."


	2. Chapter 2

Demandred sat cross-legged in the tent across from Egwene, shielded by her and a dozen Wise Ones. A ring of Aiel warriors crouched around them, veiled, and Gawyn sat at her side. The Forsaken was surrounded in a bubble of Air. All that, and the man lounged at ease, eating from a bowl of _zemai_ mush and drinking water.

"Do you know anything of how the Dragon planned to seal the Bore?"

Egwene scanned the Wise Ones' faces. Amys shook her head slightly. Aviendha grimaced. The rest simply looked blank. She glanced around the tent, searching.

"He once said..." Bashere said hesitantly, "...I thought perhaps he was simply going mad...he said something about breaking the seals. He...well, let's say I didn't press him for details."

Demandred shrugged his shoulders. "That much I could have guessed. The old sealing will have to be removed before anything stable can replace it. I suppose, at worst, we can remake that sealing."

Egwene raised an eyebrow. "You know how to do that?"

"Of course," Demandred said. "It was my idea."

The tent filled with the tension of suppressed violence. "The seals were your idea," Aviendha said flatly.

"I didn't go over to the Shadow till the war had been going on for several years. Lews Therin and I...we were friends, once. At least, I was his friend. I'm not sure he ever thought of me that way, now. I'm not sure he ever thought of anyone but himself. Yes, we discussed several possible ways of closing the Bore. This was the one that we thought most likely to work."

"Lews Therin saved the world, even if he did break it as well," Egwene stated. "You sided with the Dark One and set out to destroy it. And you think to suggest he was the selfish one between you."

Demandred clamped his mouth shut for a moment, then said in a strained voice, "A man can have good intentions on a grand scale, yet be selfish toward those around him. Perhaps...perhaps, in a way, we had that in common."

Sorilea snorted roughly at that. "Perhaps we should stake you out and leave you tied for the Trollocs. Would they obey your orders then?"

The Forsaken turned his gaze on her, already calm once more. "Perhaps I should abandon you to the Dark One, _Aiel_. Do you suppose he would give you peace? The peace of nothingness? Moridin seems to think so. I'm not so sure."

The moment was interrupted by a Maiden peering into the tent. "Word from the battlefield, Wise Ones." One of the tattooed Ayyad was escorted in, shielded, by another Wise One.

Demandred inclined his head to her. "Galbrait. How do you fare?"

"We have swept this wave of Trollocs from the battlefield, Wyld. More are hurrying toward our position, but we have some time. If I may, Wyld, why do you bother with these outlanders? Why not simply make them _inacal_ and be done?"

Egwene thought Demandred would rage at her, but he simply shook his head. "They were not raised as _inacal_, and we have no time to train them. They are part of the world I hope to save, Galbrait, in one form or another. Tell me, what do you think the Dark One would say I should do?"

Galbrait began to answer, but Aviendha interrupted her. "You no longer speak of Sightblinder as the Great Lord?"

Demandred twisted his lips at that. "Not when I mean to-what is it you say?-spit in his eye. And I do mean to, Aiel, for denying me my revenge."

Gawyn spoke for the first time in hours. "That's your motive for betraying the Dark One? Revenge?"

Demandred gazed at him bluntly. "It was my motive for betraying the Light. Why not the Shadow, too? Perhaps you would say revenge is petty. Is it less petty for you to refuse help because my motives bother you? The Dark One promised me the chance to slay Lews Therin, then allowed him to die at another's hand. Why should I not finally do what I meant to do at the first-lead the Light to victory? Why, when the one who stood in my rightful place is gone?"

Egwene sniffed. "Because the world's prophesied savior is dead? The prophecies are broken, 'Bao'. I stand against the Dark One because I must, not because I hope to defeat him. Go back to him, if you think he will have you now, and you want a victory."

Demandred met her gaze. "His prophecies are broken, Amyrlin. Mine are not. Not yet. I will stand and fight with my people. With you or without."

Aviendha touched Egwene on the shoulder. "Egwene al'Vere, I..." She stopped, then seemed to change what she was going to say. "Till shade is gone. Till water is gone. Into the Shadow with teeth bared, screaming defiance with the last breath, to spit in Sightblinder's eye on the last day." She paused again. "Today, perhaps."

Egwene started to speak, but Demandred interrupted her. "By my honor and the Light, my life will be a dagger for Sightblinder's heart." There was no irony is his tone, nothing that could be equivocation. The room was silent and filled with stares.

It was Sorilea who broke the silence. "To Shayol Ghul itself," she said. "It is done."

"To Shayol Ghul itself," the Aiel chorused.

"Well then," said Gareth Bryne, "we've agreed to do the impossible. Time to work out how."


End file.
